Story Grammar Marker®

Teacher Manipulative and Mini-Poster

by Maryellen Rooney Moreau
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Grades 3-8

Do your students need help learning to tell and write stories? The Story Grammar Marker (SGM) is perfect for helping students to visualize the elements of an episode within a story. The 24" braided tool uses icons that represent and sequence the components necessary to retell and write a story.

The icon with eyes at one end represents the character (or characters) in an episode of a story. The star represents the setting of the story. The shoe is the "kick-off" or initiating event (the action that gets the story going). The heart represents the character's feelings about the initiating event. The hand represents the character's planned response to the "kick-off"Together they represent The Beginning of a Story. Each bead represents an attempt to achieve the planTogether they represent The Middle of a Story. Finally, the bow at the end represents the direct consequence as it relates to the planned attempts, and the hearts represent the character's feelings about the direct consequence—Together they represent The End of the Episode within a story.

As you tell, retell, or read a story with your students, you provide them with the structure necessary to visualize the components of the story by pointing to icons on the SGM. Then, when students tell a story to you, they can hold the SGM to make sure they remember all the important elements. The 8 ½" x 11" mini-poster defines each of the icons and is the perfect companion to the SGM.